The Power Lords Return – brought to you by the Four Horsemen!

powerlords

You heard rumblings about this years ago here on this very site, but it’s finally come to pass: the Four Horsemen are bringing back the amazing 1980s toy line Power Lords.

“The Mayan year 13.0.0.0.0. has begun. As foretold in 669 AD by the famous prophesy carved into Monument 6 in the Mayan site of Tortuguero, this date signals the return of the “Bolon Yokte Ku” — The Nine Lords of Power. It is therefore, with great reverence, that the Four Horsemen of the Toypocalypse hereby proclaim the return of the Nine Power Lords and reveal the identity of a Tenth who dwells among us and has the power to save us all.”

Four Horsemen Toy Design Studios are proud to announce the return of Power Lords: The Extra-Terrestrial Warriors action figure line.

It’s been 30 years since world-reknowned sci-fi artist Wayne Douglas Barlowe originally designed the ground-breaking Power Lords toy line released by Revell. Four Horsemen Toy Design have just acquired the Power Lords license and signed Wayne Barlowe as a creative consultant to help bring the Power Lords back in action figure form.

Getting to work with Barlowe on the much-anticipated return of Power Lords has been the culmination of a life-long dream for Four Horsemen co-founder Eric Treadaway. Four Horsemen Studios are currently hard at work creating the new Power Lords prototypes that will be revealed during the Power Lords-themed Toypocalypse 3 Art Exhibit occurring in New York at TT Underground in February during New York Toyfair 2013.

To get updates about upcoming figures and events as well as a complete history and our ever-growing archival galleries for Power Lords please keep checking at powerlordsreturn.com.

Four Horsemen Toy Design Studios proudly present the return of the Official Power Lords Fan Club. Final details and sign-up to coincide with our TT Underground show in February. The Fan club is slated to include the following participation levels:

Trigore level – $20.00

  • poster/print (not sure if we’d do b&w or color)
  • sticker
  • plastic membership card with name and club number
  • e-mailing list
  • priority buying (allowed to purchase 24 hours before anyone else)
  • 10% discount on any Power Lords merch purchased through Store Horsemen
  • members only incentives (exclusive figures and promotions)

Power Ship level – $50.00

  • everything in tier 1
  • Power Lords/Four Horsemen t-shirt (we’ve designed a new “Power Lords based” Four Horsemen logo)
  • club membership only exclusive figure

Volcan Rock level – $150.00

  • everything in tiers 1 & 2
  • Details to be revealed soon.

Four Horsemen Toy Design Studios announce Toypocalypse 3: Extra-Toyrrestrial

Four Horsemen studios are excited to announce the third Toypocalypse show running from Sunday February 10th- Wednesday February 13th with a special opening on Saturday February 9th from 7:00-10:00 PM. The show will celebrate the Studios’ newest license: Power Lords the Extra Terrestrial Warriors. We will not only be debuting all new Power Lords prototypes, but also displaying an archival history of the brand. The show will also highlight new reveals for Four Horsemen created properties, Outer Space Men, and some surprises.

With the popularity of last years’ Outer Space Men custom show we’ve decided to follow up this year with a Power Lords invitational art show. We will be inviting professionals as well as all fans to participate in the show. Either 2-D or 3-D submissions will be accepted. We will need applications returned and dimensions of your piece by Friday, January 18th, and the piece in our possession by Friday February 1st. Applications will be available at powerlordsreturn.com on January 2nd.

The Horsemen also sent along some information on how the return of Power Lords was accomplished.

Treadaway and his partners at Four Horsemen Toy Design (aka The Four Horsemen of the Toypocalypse) are the talents that have been behind the return of a number of iconic and beloved toy lines for adult collectors, including the amazing Masters of the Universe Classics line, and a reboot of DC’s Super Powers line called DC Universe Classics. The Horsemen also successfully brought back the much-venerated Outer Space Men line (originally made by Colorforms) more than 40 years after it was initially introduced.

So it turns out that the whole time that Treadaway and Four Horsemen were bringing collectors these wildly successful and mind-blowingly cool incarnations of our favorite childhood characters, Eric Treadaway was also dreaming about bringing back the Power Lords and launching them back into the universe so that they could capture the imagination of others the way they had captured his.

Treadaway had tried to track down and acquire the rights to Power Lords for years, but hadn’t found it easy. The Four Horsemen contacted Wayne Barlowe, but Barlowe told them he did not know who owned the rights to his creations. To make things worse, the Power Lords trademark had lapsed and both legendary toy creators Ned Strongin and Len Mayem had passed away. Treadaway kept running into brick wall after brick wall.

Finally after considerable research that involved scouring government websites and making dozens of phone calls to lawyers and law firms listed on the three-decade-old trademark applications, a search of public records yielded the name and phone number of someone believed to be connected to the Strongin family.

After more detective work, the Four Horsemen were able to get through to Attorney Michael Strongin, Ned Strongin’s son, who helped track down the Mayem family and work out the deal that would bring the Power Lords roaring back to life. With that deal in place, Wayne Barlowe was quickly signed on as a creative consultant so that he could add his talents to the mix.

As you can see, the Four Horsemen have gone through a lot of time and effort to resurrect that long-dead toy line that had left such an indelible mark in young Treadaway. They plan to bring back the line in all its glory, starting with a 3-3/4 inch scale line that will include a mix of traditional articulation & Glyos-compatibility. The Glyos system allows fans to mix and match parts with the Four Horsemen’s Outer Space Men line as well as with the whole world of Glyos-compatible toys created by Matt Doughty and expanded by Callgrim creator Jesse Moore and Spy Monkey Creations, creators of The Weaponeers of Monkaa line.

With the Four Horsemen at the helm and with Wayne Barlowe contributing and Eric Treadaway bringing his life-long love of the property and his world-class sculpting skills to the table, these figures are sure to be amazing.

There should be other Power Lords-related projects and merchandise in the works, so stay tuned. A fantastic new backstory has been developed, including cool new characters and a comic book is being conceived. And finally, if all goes right with negotiations that are currently in progress, The Four Horsemen just might play a role in bringing the world that animated TV show that the original Power Lords toy line so richly deserved, but didn’t get.

So if you missed the Power Lords the first time, don’t miss them this time, because I’m betting that even after 30 years, they still have the power to transport your imagination to alien worlds and bring endless possibilities to life.

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10 Comments

  1. Goon3423

    Call me when they're 6-7".

  2. Looking forward to our first glimpse of these guys!

  3. domu

    3.75" has me excited!

  4. Mario

    3 3/4 has me a bit bummed…

  5. dasbookpimp

    Holy Crap. I always wanted these as a kid. Now I have the chance to not only get them, but to get Four Horsemen versions of them! Kid in a candystore anyone? Anyone?

  6. Black Arbor

    Yeeeahhh… Sorry Guys, I just don't see this being very successful. You want a TV show? You gotta tap into the children's market and, lets be honest, the Power Lords concept can only go so far. Plus, kids want toys to go with thier shows (Like the new TMNT), and most of 'em don't even know what the hell a GLYOS is (I'm still fuzzy myself. I get that it's a toy with swappable pieces, but is it technically an "Indie toy" like at my LCS?)

  7. stack32

    Love the part about Glyos-compatibility. Not so crazy about “membership” and “exclusive.”

  8. HOLY CRAP AAAARGH A NEW ARKUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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